The necessity of using such storing lungs between the continuous processing machines for developing and printing, cutting and eventual preparation and packing of photographic material is known in the present state of art. To this end, see the characteristics of the developing and printing system for photographic material (both film and paper) of the type described in Italian application No. 83382A/85 of 12-7-85 in the same applicant's name (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 3623084.7), in which the respective storing lungs foresee a snake-like stretching of the strip of photographic material or support of said at both ends, by means of a frame on a fixed plane with upper transmission rollers which cooperates with the vertically mobile frame of lower transmission rollers below the first one.
According to the characteristics of the above-mentioned system, the respective storing lungs foresee that the corresponding transmission rollers of the strip of photographic material to be treated, alternatively the strips in continuation of non-photographic material as supports for the beginning and end, are of the self-rotating type.
However, even if this concept of self-rotation has its advantages, it also presents disadvantages deriving above all from the fact that undesired rotations of the corresponding support rollers may occur, thus causing danger of impediments and entanglements.
Furthermore, as the actual storing lungs have to accumulate a large quantity of material, they must necessarily be of big dimensions and are therefore bulky or, alternatively, the quantity of stored material is limited, with consequent restrictions on the possibility of automatization and being to optimize the operativity of the various machines which are connected to the maximum limit.
The scope of the present invention is to realize a storage lung which is able to eliminate the above-mentioned inconveniences.